Thursday, November 1, 2012

Delaney turns 14 this year, and in lieu of a party and presents, I took him to Las Vegas. He’s been wanting to go, and since I had to go for work, I decided this would be a good time. I also had a surprise.

I’ve seen the ads for “The Gun Store” in Vegas before, and when I knew we were going, I checked out their packages. Sure enough, Delaney was eligible to shoot. He saw the ads when we landed and I surprised him Monday by telling him that this was going to be his birthday present. He had $200 to spend.

After a quick lunch, we drove down Tropicana to the store.

It’s a neat place, and popular. A gun store in the front, and a range in the back. We signed up and headed back, standing in a line with a couple dozen other people that were there for the shooting sports.

Racks of weapons on the wall to see. Instructors would come get them, along with ammo, and take people back to shoot. Delaney decided to do the pick 3 package, which let him pick 3 guns and double his ammunition. Once we were in line and waiting, he decided to add a fourth gun to round out his $200.

We waited almost an hour, but finally got up to the front of the line, and saw our ammo bin.

He was excited, but also serious and ready to shoot. We ended up with a young guy taking us back with his weapons. Delaney started with a pistol, and the instructor explained things to him, and then Delaney got ready to shoot.

It’s tough to shoot, and Delaney definitely struggled with his aim. Not sure he was as bad as I’ve been in the past, but this was hard.

I got some video of his pistol shooting that I uploaded. Good instruction from the range guy, but Delaney was definitely excited and hurried a bit with his shots. He kept locking open the gun, which we traced to poor placement of his left thumb.

Then it was time for the real guns. First up was an MP5, a sub machine gun from what Delaney tells me. He had some nice long bursts on this one, and it left him shaking a bit with joy. After the instructor left, he said it was really exciting, but more of a kick than he expected.

After this, another machine gun. This time the M4.

Delaney did better this time, getting his aim down and riddling the targets nicely.

Now time for the big gun. The M249 SAW. We got a nice posed picture before this one, so Delaney could have the slip slung on top.

He shot better, and loved this gun. I’m sure he’d want to buy all these if he could.

That was it. An hour wait, probably 15 minutes of shooting, maybe less, and Delaney was thrilled. We walked out with a mug, beanie, and targets that he has now plastered in his room. Totally worth it.